The present invention relates to inline roller skates and, more particularly to an inline roller skate frame adapted to facilitate improved lateral sliding of the inline roller skate.
The use of inline roller skates has become an extremely popular recreation activity. In general, inline roller skates include a plurality of wheels that are rotatably supported in a common plane by a frame which, in turn, is mounted to the underside of a boot. One of the most popular recreational activities involving inline roller skates is roller hockey. In fact, roller hockey has become so popular that it is now even played in professional leagues. Roller hockey is played in much the same manner as conventional ice hockey, however, as opposed to ice skates, all of the players are outfitted with inline roller skates.
One of the ways in which roller hockey can differ significantly from ice hockey is the play at the goaltender position. A hockey goaltender often must slide one or both skates laterally very quickly in order to get his body or pads in position to block a shot. As compared to ice skates, however, lateral sliding movement can be very difficult to accomplish with inline roller skates. In particular, when a goaltender using inline roller skates kicks out one or both of his legs in order to block a shot, the wheels, axle bolts, frame and boot of the inline skate can scrape along the skating surface, significantly slowing down the sliding movement. Since these components present an unevenly contoured surface, the sliding movement is also very uneven and awkward further hampering the goaltender""s ability to block the shot. Additionally, the scraping action on these components of the inline skate also causes them to wear quickly, leading to a need for premature replacement of the components, or even, the entire skate.
Attachments are available for inline skates which facilitate so-called xe2x80x9caggressivexe2x80x9d skating maneuvers like lateral sliding over round or curved objects such as a pole or street curb. This type of attachment is mounted in the middle of the side of the skate frame via the existing wheel axles and includes a rounded notch in its lower edge with which the user can engage a rounded or curved surface so as to allow the skate to slide laterally over that curved surface. Such attachments, however, are not well suited for use in a lateral sliding maneuver over a non-curved surface such as a typical skating surface because they only provide a sliding surface in the middle portion of the skate frame. Accordingly, when sliding over a substantially flat surface, the heel or toe area of the skate frame can dig into the ground, throwing the user off balance as well causing significant damage to the skate frame.
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing, a general object of the present invention is to provide an inline roller skate which allows quick and easy lateral sliding over a skating surface.
A related object of the present invention is to provide an inline roller skate frame specifically adapted for use in playing the goaltender position in roller hockey.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an inline roller skate frame which is resistant to wear caused by lateral sliding of the inline skate along a skating surface.